Student-Led Mammoth Exhibit to Begin Dec. 8

WACO, Texas - An exhibit titled "Mystery of the Waco Mammoths" which explores the world's largest concentration of a herd of mammoths dying from the same event will open Friday, Dec. 8, at Baylor University's Strecker Museum.
The site, located just north of Waco, includes 22 Colombian mammoths that are 28,000 years old, Calvin Smith, director of Strecker Museum, said.
"It has been called by professionals one of the most important paleontological sites in the world based on the assemblage alone," Smith said. "However, we are exploring how to retrieve much more information about each individual mammoth, behavioral aspects as a herd, and even DNA relationships as well as what climatological changes were occurring during their lifetime."
The exhibit explains the discovery, excavation and research efforts that have taken place thus far, and also gives the history of Colombian mammoths and the paleontological importance of the site. A model of the site includes a casting of the skull and tusks of the herd matriarch, a 52-year-old female. Lack of space is also a dominant theory of the probable factors which contributed to the death of this nursery herd.
The exhibit was initiated and led by Baylor undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in the Exhibit Design and Preparation class as their semester project.
Strecker Museum is open from 9 a.m. to noon and 1:30-4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, and 2-5 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is free.
For more information, contact Smith at (817) 755-1110.